An aircraft may use one or more sensors to determine the aircraft's angle of attack (AoA). To measure the AoA, an aircraft may have a sensor mounted to the outside of the aircraft. The sensor may be used to measure localized airstream angle with respect to a fuselage horizontal reference plane or a wing reference plane. Some sensors use a rotatable appendage affixed to the sensor. The rotatable appendage may have a profile that causes the appendage to seek a neutral or zero angle with respect to the direction of the local airstream around the appendage. As the direction of the local airstream changes, the rotatable appendage preferable rotates to maintain the zero angle with respect to the local airstream around the appendage.
The amount of rotation of the appendage may be detected by the AoA sensor. The sensor, or other cooperative systems, uses the rotation of the appendage to determine the direction of local airflow around the appendage. The angular difference between the direction of local airflow and the horizontal reference plane of the aircraft is the AoA. Because at least a part of the AoA sensor is exposed to the environment, the sensor may experience technical issues as a result of environment effects.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure herein is presented.